


Counting Stars Until We Meet

by psychotic_fangirl369



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blind Date, Boys Kissing, Caring Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Modern Era, arthur rescues merlin from his blind date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:54:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28818834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychotic_fangirl369/pseuds/psychotic_fangirl369
Summary: Merlin calls Gwen to rescue him from a blind date. Arthur answers instead and decides to help Merlin out.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 298





	Counting Stars Until We Meet

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Hope you enjoy this. xx

Merlin held his phone to his ear, muttering under his breath, “Please pick up, please pick up.” When Gwen didn’t answer, he cursed and dialled again. He needed his best friend now, more than ever.

Merlin was on a date and it was going _horribly._ Tonight was the first time he’d gone out with someone since he ended his nearly 2-year-long relationship with his ex-girlfriend Freya. It was also the first time he’d been on a date with a guy. Merlin had known he was bisexual since his early teens, but other than kissing one or two blokes at high school parties, he’d never managed to explore that side of himself. His first year of uni he’d met Freya and been gone on her instantly and he’d never looked at anyone else since. Then, a few months back, Freya had decided to return to America to look after her dying mother and decided she didn’t want a long distance boyfriend to hold onto. She’d dumped him, left him heartbroken and flown back to the States. Gwen had let him mope for three months, before saying enough was enough.

“You need to get out there, Merlin,” she had said. “Let me set you up with this bloke on my pharmacy course. He’s gorgeous.”

Merlin had begrudgingly agreed. He’d been best friends with Gwen since primary school and he trusted her. Unfortunately, whilst she’d been right about the gorgeous part, Cenred King was nothing short of an _arse._ And not in the attractive arsehole kind of way, but the truly horrible I-want-to-punch-you-in-the-face kind of way.

Firstly, Cenred had shown up late. And not a few minutes late, because Merlin got that. He was late for everything. But 20 minutes late and without a message to say so. When Cenred had finally arrived, he hadn’t apologized or explained. He’d then spent ages talking about himself and flaunting how _rich_ and _successful_ his family is and how he thinks he’s so superior to everyone else. He’d gone on to insult Merlin’s small farm town life style and proceeded to make leeward and sexual comments. He’d even tried to _touch Merlin’s dick_ under the table before the main course had even arrived.

Which is when Merlin had excused himself to the bathroom and frantically dialled Gwen who was not answering her damn phone. Merlin grit his teeth as he sat on the closed toilet seat and dialled Gwen’s number for a third time. Thankfully, after the second ring someone answered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Gwen.

“Hello?” answered a decidedly _male_ voice.

Merlin frowned and pulled the phone away to check and yep, the screen definitely said _Gwen._ He hesitantly put the phone back to his ear. “Uh. Hi? I’m looking for Gwen?”

The man on the other end laughed. “She’s in the shower.”

Merlin’s frown deepened. “Who are you? Why do you have Gwen’s phone?”

There was the sound of movement on the other side of the line. “I’m a friend. I just dropped Gwen home and I’m staying to make sure she’s okay.” The voice dropped to a stage whisper. “She’s a bit pissed.”

“It’s only 7! Gwen doesn’t drink this early!”

The man laughed again. “Yeah, blame my sister. Morgana felt like drinking and Gwen got dragged along for the ride.”

Merlin felt his eyebrows raise. “Morgana is your sister? You’re Arthur?”

“Yeah. And who are you?”

Merlin swallowed. “Merlin. Gwen’s best mate and flatmate.”

“Huh, yeah. Morgana and Gwen talk about you all the time.”

Merlin flushed at that. He and Gwen had met Morgana during Freshers Week and become fast friends. Arthur was her older brother but Merlin had never met him. He knew that Arthur and Morgana had a flat together and Merlin had been over plenty, but Arthur always seemed to be out, whether it was with friends or one of the many societies Morgana said he was a part of. From what Gwen said, the man could be compared to a god based on appearance. Merlin believed it, if Morgana was anything to go by.

“Shit,” Merlin said suddenly, resting his head in his free hand. “Shit, shit _shit_.”

“Uh? You okay, mate?” Arthur asked, sounding amused.

Merlin groaned. “I’m on a really bad blind date and I needed Gwen to help bail me out but she’s drunk and I can’t hide in the bathroom much longer.”

Arthur made a sympathetic sound and Merlin closed his eyes and groaned again. _“Fuck_.”

“Listen,” Arthur said, “where are you?”

“The Griffin,” Merlin said instantly. “The pub 10 minutes from mine and Gwen’s flat.”

Merlin could hear Arthur moving about and he heard the sound of keys jingling.

“All right. Gwen will be fine for a few minutes. Go back out there and deal for a few minutes and I’ll be there soon, okay? I’ll come up with some excuse to drag you away.”

Merlin stood up from the toilet seat and ran a hand through his hair. It had grown longer than he usually kept it, the ends starting to curl which Gwen teased him about no end and then promptly forbid him from cutting it when he tried to make an appointment.

“Are you sure, Arthur? We don’t even know each other.”

“Maybe not,” Arthur said, “but we’ve known of each other for two years.” Merlin heard a door close through the phone line. “I’m on my way. See you soon,” Arthur continued, then hung up the phone.

Merlin pulled the phone away from his ear and stared down at it. It took him a moment to realize he was smiling. He shook his head and shoved his phone in his pocket. With a deep, determined breath, Merlin left the toilet cubicle and headed out of the bathroom and back to the table. He slid into his seat and forced a smile at Cenred, who reached under the table and placed his hand on Merlin’s thigh. Merlin shifted uncomfortably, but Cenred just slid closer along the booth seat until they were pressed shoulder to shoulder.

“I want your lips around my cock,” Cenred whispered in Merlin’s ear.

Merlin jolted and shuffled along the seat until they were no longer touching. “Oh, look, our food,” Merlin said in a forced cheerful voice as the waitress carried their meals over to the table. Merlin gave her a wide grin. He didn’t think he’d ever been so grateful to a waitress in all his life. Thankfully, Cenred moved back to his side of the table and started to eat his meal. Merlin picked at his chips, glancing towards the door now and then in hopes of Arthur arriving. Not that he had any idea what Arthur looked like.

A blond man walked into the pub and Merlin felt his mouth go dry. The guy was in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a Camelot University football jacket. Even from this distance, Merlin could tell the guy was beautiful. The man looked around the pub, then his eyes landed on Merlin and he smiled. Merlin felt his stomach lurch as it all clicked in his head. _The man could be compared to a god,_ Gwen had said.

The man – Arthur, Merlin was sure of it – made his way across the pub to Merlin and Cenred.

“Merlin,” the blond said cheerfully.

“Arthur,” Merlin said with baited breath. Please let him be right.

Arthur’s grin widened. Then he turned to Cenred. “Sorry, mate, I need to steal Merlin away from you. I’m locked out of my flat so I need to crash at his.”

Merlin was already pulling on his jacket and tossing a couple notes onto the table to cover his half of the uneaten meal.

“But,” Cenred stuttered. Then he glowered. “Go crash somewhere else. Merlin and I are busy. We haven’t had _dessert_ yet,” he said and the dirty way in which he said it left no room for discussion on just what he had planned on having for dessert.

Merlin stood up quickly until he was standing next to Arthur. “Sorry, Cenred. I owe Arthur one. See you around.”

“But-“ Cenred started again, but Arthur threw his arm around Merlin’s shoulders and smiled.

“Sorry, mate,” Arthur said, not sounding sorry at all, “but Merlin here is mine for tonight.”

Then, before Cenred could say anything else, Arthur used the arm around Merlin’s shoulder to steer him out of the pub. Merlin’s heart was pounding in his chest and Arthur’s arm around his shoulders felt heavy and warm and Arthur’s entire side was pressed against him and it felt nothing like when Cenred tried to molest him at the table.

Once they were outside and walking up the pavement towards Merlin’s flat, Merlin let himself look at Arthur, only to find Arthur, who still hadn’t taken his arm off Merlin, looking back. They stared at each other for a few moments before they both collapsed into a fit of laughter. As Merlin snorted, he leant heavily against Arthur’s side. The blond was nearly doubled over with laughter.

“His face,” Arthur spluttered between chortles.

Merlin sniggered. “We haven’t had dessert yet,” Merlin said, mimicking Cenred’s voice and sending them both into further hysterics.

When they finally stopped laughing, Merlin looked down at the ground, smiling shyly. His face felt flushed and he felt warm all over. He sneaked a peek at Arthur and grinned.

“Nice to finally meet you, Arthur. And thanks for saving me.”

Arthur grinned back at him and squeezed Merlin’s shoulders with his arm, which was still draped around Merlin. “I’m a real knight in shining armour. Always ready to help the damsels like yourself.”

They chuckled as they reached Merlin’s flat. Merlin pulled out his key and unlocked it, before they both slipped inside. Arthur let go of Merlin to go and check on Gwen and Merlin immediately missed his warmth. He shrugged off his jacket and toed off his shoes before heading into the kitchen and grabbing a tub of ice cream from the freezer. He pulled out a spoon and sat at the kitchen counter, tucking into the ice cream as he waited for Arthur to come back. When Arthur came back into the kitchen-lounge room, he took one look at Merlin and chuckled, shaking his head almost fondly.

“Gwen’s sleeping,” Arthur said, taking off his shoes and coming to join Merlin at the counter. He pulled out a spoon of his own and shoved it into Merlin’s tub of ice cream.

“Hey!” Merlin pouted.

Arthur smirked. “You owe me for saving your ass,” he said, shoving the ice cream into his mouth.

Merlin sighed, but he stopped holding the tub so tightly and placed it on the counter between them instead. They chatted for a while as they made their way through the tub. Merlin already knew somethings about Arthur because of Morgana and Gwen – like how he was a fourth year student in engineering, how he was on the football team and the RAG society and how his favourite TV shows included Doctor Who and Sherlock. Arthur seemed to know things about Merlin too. Like how Merlin was studying to be a doctor and how he grew up in Ireland, but moved to England when he was 16.

“So why were you on a date with that tosser anyways?” Arthur asked around a mouth full of ice cream.

Merlin sighed. “Gwen set me up. She thought it was time I got back into dating.” He ate another spoonful of ice cream. “It was the first date I’ve been on since I broke up with my ex three months back.”

Arthur winced in sympathy. “Not a great way to get back into dating, then, was it,” Arthur said. “A bit of a rubbish night.”

Merlin bit his lip and fixed his eyes on Arthur, hoping against all hope that he hadn’t been imagining the connection between them all evening. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said slowly. “The night might have started off rubbish, but I’d say it’s going great now.”

Arthur looked over at him with red cheeks and a smug smile. “Why don’t we make it even better,” he said, leaning closer, his eyes flickering down to Merlin’s lips.

Merlin dropped his spoon on the counter and shifted closer to Arthur. “Best idea I’ve heard all night,” Merlin murmured.

Then Arthur’s lips were on his. It felt nothing like the few kisses he’d had with guys before. And it wasn’t anything like kissing Freya either. It was better. So much better. Kissing Arthur was incredible. Merlin wrapped his arms around Arthur’s neck and Arthur’s hands found their way into his hair, pulling on it lightly and causing Merlin to moan. He tilted his head so that their lips slotted together better and then Arthur was up and pushing Merlin’s legs apart so he could stand between them. They kissed and kissed and kissed until Merlin could no longer breathe and he pulled back panting and grinning.

“Well,” Merlin gasped out. “Definitely a great night.”

Arthur snorted and leant his head against Merlin’s shoulder. “Why didn’t we meet sooner?” he murmured into Merlin’s neck.

“No idea,” Merlin replied. He pulled Arthur in for another kiss. “But now that I have met you, don’t think I’m letting you go any time soon.”

Arthur flashed him a grin and kissed his nose, then his lips. Once, twice. “How about we go on a date tomorrow night?”

Merlin laughed and kissed Arthur again. “Yes,” he whispered through his giggling.

The night might have started out as a complete disaster, but Merlin was starting to think his date with Cenred might have been the best mistake he ever made. As he kissed Arthur again, he made a mental note to thank Morgana for getting Gwen drunk. After all, if she hadn’t, he might never have met Arthur. Merlin had a funny feeling that he was about to start a new chapter in his life that would be better and brighter than everything that had come before. And he couldn’t wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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